Two novellas provide insight into the human condition as a sixty-year-old art history academic embarks on an unexpected journey of discovery and a young farm boy is drawn to the water of Lake Michigan as an escape.

One of the truest and most original new voices in American letters, as Kent Haruf has written, Mark Spragg now tells the story of a complex, prodigal homecoming. Jean Gilkyson is floundering in a trailer house in Iowa with yet another brutal boyfriend when she realizes this kind of life has got to stop, especially for the sake of her daughter, Griff. But the only place they can run to is Ishawooa, Wyoming, where Jean's loved ones are dead and her...

Death-camp survivor Buck is 87, abrasive, and has trouble remembering. But his cop's watchfulness is intact, and he keeps his .375 Magnum close by. When he learns that the sadistic guard who brutalized him is likely still alive and the possessor of much stolen Nazi gold, Buck and his chatterbox grandson go on a quest. But who are these people who suddenly come out of the woodwork-- a loan shark, a scholar, a pretty Israeli soldier? And why does everyone...

Disorganized crime: a gang of would-be bank robbers have little going for them except a pair of bumbling detectives. Another stakeout: Seattle detectives Chris Lecce and Bill Reimers team up on a stakeout, this time with female detective Gina Garrett and her mischievous dog. Father hood: A lovable, small-time crook's latest scheme of hiting it big is only temporarily interrupted when his two kids suddenly appear to reclaim him as their dad. Oscar:...

Estoy seguro de que puedo contar esta historia. Tambien estoy seguro de que nadie se la creera. Eso me da igual. Me basta con contarla. Para mi --y esta claro que para muchos escritores, no solo los novatos como yo--, el problema es decidir por donde empezar ... Y ahora, mientras pienso en esas cosas, veo un claro hilo que conduce a lo largo de los anos hasta el senor Bowditch y el cobertizo cerrado con candado detras de su vieja y ruinosa casa victoriana....

Robert MacIver is an 80-year-old war historian, a proud Scot long resident stateside, dying slowly and alone in an ancient house in the woods on Cape Cod. His beloved wife, Margaret, has died recently in the same house, and MacIver sees no reason to linger. He is not, as the famous Dylan Thomas poem has it, raging against his going, but neither is he going gentle, though rage and gentleness are the novel's key concepts. Instead, he chooses a middle...

Corporate billionaire Edward Cole and working class mechanic Carter Chambers have nothing in common, except they both have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses. While sharing a hospital room together, they decide to make a Bucket List of all the things they have ever wanted to do before they die. In the process of completing the list, both of them heal each other, become unlikely friends, and ultimately find the joy in life.